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Nickel catalysts could lead to cheaper, more accessible transportation fuels
A new study reveals the secrets of how nickel catalysts use electricity to convert carbon dioxide to fuels, particularly long-chain and branched hydrocarbon fuel molecules. Traditionally, scientists have relied on Fischer–Tropsch synthesis, a carbon-coupling process, to convert syngas to long-chain hydrocarbons. Syngas is a mixture of hydrogen and CO, which can be made by treating carbon dioxide with hydrogen. However, these methods “require high temperatures and pressures, [whereas] our electrochemical route runs at ambient conditions with green electricity,” explains lead author Boon Siang Yeo, an expert in ... (full story)